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Should you trust online professor ratings?

By Steve Fox, Digital First Media

Posted:
10/04/2013 04:27:54 PM MDT

Updated:
10/04/2013 04:28:00 PM MDT

Should you trust online professor and teacher ratings? (mistic_boy)

As teens begin to find their way around the Internet, they will inevitably search their names and the names of others. So I was half-expecting it when my son started laughing after he Googled my name – and found the top result was a character from the video game “Tekken.”

As my son poked around, he asked, “Why are you a tough professor?” Yes, he had discovered my “Rate Your Professors” page. I teach journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and while I have only eight postings on my page, most are consistent with the description that my classes involve a lot of work. For the record, they do.

Students get to rate classes using the following standards: Easiness, Helpfulness, Clarity and Rater Interest. There is also a “Hotness” category, with a chili pepper as an icon. Apparently, James Madison University has the “hottest” professor.

The site allows students to rate their professors anonymously. Anonymity on the Internet, however, usually leads to issues of legitimacy. One of my eight “ratings” is clearly that of a disgruntled student who didn't make the grade. But, the site allows for professors to “strike back.”

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My department is pretty small, so students tend to find out about professors and their classes through word of mouth more than anything else. But as my son begins to start thinking about colleges, I can see how this service might help him sift the many class options in his first few years and find favorable professors. There are even lists: Both The Huffington Post and USA Today recently generated news stories based on which universities had the best-rated professors.

But the rating doesn't stop at the college level. There is also a “Rate Your Teachers” site that allows students across the nation to rate their teachers from the preschool level all the way through high school.

The discussion on the “Rate My Professors” page with my son led to a discussion on the digital footprint he's creating for himself. This site is one of those places I have little control over, but I told him there are others he can and should control.

LinkedIn is where I have a good amount of “recommendations” from former students, as well as former colleagues at other jobs. Names are attached to the statements, providing more legitimacy.

How accurate are these sites? Should you make a decision on a school or a teacher based on these ratings? Online surveys are notoriously inaccurate. Anonymity means a certain lack of accountability, and there is always the possibility of stacking reviews one way or the other.

I remember a survey on a potential name change for the Washington Redskins when I first started working at The Washington Post's website in 1996. Results fluctuated vastly from hour to hour, indicating a certain lack of scientific foundation.

So, while such sites can be guidelines, there's nothing like actually sitting down and talking to professors and teachers to get a sense of who they are.

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